Can Wake Forest keep food pantry shelves stocked — for good?

“It could be a Wake Forest project.” —Gwen Moore, Deacon’s Ridge HOA

WAKE FOREST — Looks like a homeowners’ organization has finally come along that everybody’s going to love.

Tired of hearing about people going hungry, the Deacon’s Ridge HOA has issued a challenge to the neighborhood’s 143 homeowners: Help them stock the shelves at Tri-Area Ministry.

Starting immediately, they’ll ask neighbors to put food on their front porches once a month, 12 months a year, for collection and distribution to the Wake Forest food bank ministry.

“I read or see in the news where food bank shelves are empty and people are so in need. They’re not getting their unemployment, not getting their checks in time,” Deacon’s Ridge HOA board member Gwen Moore says. “My shelves have never gone empty. I think it would break my heart to look in my children’s eyes and know I didn’t have food for them at night.

“We realized there’s just so many people in need.”

The plan is to have volunteers collect the food items one Saturday a month to take to Tri-Area at 149 E. East Holding Ave. Scouts have already volunteered to collect the food this month and Moore is hoping neighborhood volunteers will take up the charge on an ongoing basis.

The HOA will put out a sign in the neighborhood on a Monday to let residents know canned or dry foodstuffs will be collected later that week.
Moore hopes the food they collect will stock the pantry’s shelves for one of the four weeks in a month. But they don’t want that to be the end of it.

“We hope to challenge other neighborhoods (to do the same),” she said. “Our neighborhood will take the first Saturday of the month. We hope other neighborhoods will take second, third and fourth.”

If they do, Tri-Area might be set for life. But there are other food banks that could take any overflow.
“If they accept the challenge this could be not just a Deacon’s Ridge project, it could be a Wake Forest project,” Moore added. “That’s what the board is hoping.”